Carry-On's ending is a wild callback to Burt Lancaster's 54-year-old disaster film that had three sequels

Continue is being called again Die Hardbut the Netflix film is more like a 1970s film, which it references during its ending. The 2024 action thriller, directed by Jaume Collet-Serra and written by TJ Fixman, follows Taron Egerton's Ethan Kopek, a TSA officer who is blackmailed at LAX on Christmas Eve. After learning that his girlfriend, Nora, is pregnant, Ethan plans to get a promotion. His boss tests him by assigning him to manage a baggage scanning lane, which unfortunately results in Ethan becoming involved in a terrorist plot.

The success of the villains' plans in Continue It's up to Ethan to let a suspicious carry-on bag get through security without setting off any alarms. Later, Egerton's character discovers that the bag contains a nerve agent weapon called Novichok. Ethan then does everything in his power to stop the suitcase from entering the plane, killing everyone inside, while also protecting Nora. For your last effort, at the end of ContinueEthan personally enters the plane to diffuse the weapon, and that's when the clever callback to an iconic disaster film from the 1970s happens.

Carry-On's “Trans Global Airlines” is a reference to the 1970s airport

The airline is fake at the airport

Near the end of ContinueEthan and Nora discover that the bag containing Novichok targets Trans Global 0610, a flight bound for Washington, D.C. Many would look at this detail and instead focus on the high-stakes action taking place on screen. However, those who paid attention and watched the 1970 disaster drama film Airport You might recognize the airline, as it's the fake one used in the 54-year-old film.

Airport follows Burt Lancaster as Mel Bakersfeld, the manager of a fictional airport in Chicago who is trying to maintain smooth operations during a snowstorm and stop a suicide bomber from blowing up a plane in mid-flight. The airline on the flight is Trans Global, the same as in the film Continue. Netflix's 2024 action thriller is undoubtedly referencing Airport citing the name of the airline (and featuring a similar scary situation – a gun on board a flight).

How the 1970 Airport Changed the Disaster Film Genre

The airport has inspired many other flight-based disaster films

It makes sense because Continue presents a callback to Airport since the earliest film was the model for disaster films and influenced many who came after him. The 1970 drama was a huge box office success, as it grossed over $128 million against a budget of $10 million, and was nominated for and won many awards (including the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for Helen Hayes). Consequently, Airport has been a significant inspiration for flight-based disaster films over the past five decades, since Air Force One to Continue.

Source: Deadline